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Raindrop Plotter

Joyce Ma

June 2005

Keywords: < formative environmental rain, outside >

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Outdoor Exploratorium: Formative EvaluationRaindrop Plotter

Joyce MaJune 2005

PURPOSE

To gauge

• What visitors noticed at the exhibit, in particular, how they interpreted the raindropplots captured by the prototype

• What visitors found interesting/ not interesting about the exhibit

• What visitors became curious about at the prototype.

METHOD

• The prototype showing a plot of the last rain captured in San Francisco (at thePalace of Fine Arts) was set up at Rincon Park, as shown in Figure 1

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Figure 1. Prototype Setup

• Note that the prototype was not functioning during this evaluation; the plotter was notpowered nor was it raining.

• The prototype sat in two different locations during our evaluation. On Thursday,June 2 it was placed near Lift, the only other exhibit prototype on site that day, inorder to help us draw visitors to our prototypes. See Figure 2. Then on Thursday,June 9 and Sunday, June 12, we placed Raindrop Plotter closer to Viewfinder(Figure 3), again to establish a cluster of exhibits to attract visitors.

• An evaluator sat and observed visitors as they used the exhibit and approachedthem for interviews as they were leaving the prototype. The interview can be foundin Appendix A.

• We observed and interviewed people during these times

Thursday, June 2 12:15 pm – 3:00 pm

Thursday, June 9 11:00 am – 3:00 pm

Sunday, June 12 4:30 pm – 5:30 pm

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Figure 2. Prototype Location on June 2

Figure 3. Prototype Location on June 9 and June 12

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DATA CORPUS

• N=17

Group TypeCount

(out of 17)

Individual adults 9

Adult peer group 8

RESULTS

What did visitors do at the exhibit prototype?

Did visitors look at the printout?

Looked at theprintout

Count

(out of 17)

Yes 15

No 2

What did they notice?

• We asked the visitors who looked at the printout what they noticed on the plot.

− The drops or circles (9 groups)

Group3: I saw the drops very clearly.

Group4: (A) dots like raindrops (B) markings, maybe some are invisible

Group5: There are places with water spots and places with no spots, andplaces with very little spots

Group6: What I was looking for was the spots; how much rain fell in 15seconds.

Group8: The raindrops.

Group9: That there’s a light sprinkling here but basically there’s very littlerain. It’s a way of mapping the rainfall.

Group10: 1.) Rain DNA 2.) It’s a little pornographic!

Group16: (A) little drops. (B) Not sure what time frame it was.

Group17: The light dots where rain had... I understood that compared to thepurple thing.

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− Dark (and light) areas (4 groups)

Group2: The burn, the dark patches

Group7: Just the grey and white

Group13: I’m seeing an uneven print

Group14: Yeah, you could see an opaque pattern, which makes it seem like agraph...

− The progression of time (1 group)

Group3: I did the 15 seconds, counted to 15 and moved to the next one. I sawthe drops very clearly.

− A way to interact with the prototype (1 group)

Group11: I was wondering if there was something I should crank. Something Icould do. Is it interactive?

− Nothing in particular (1 group)

Group1: not really- nothing specific, I didn’t really see.

• These visitors interpreted the plot as a representation of:

− Rain, specifically raindrops (5 groups)

Group3: the drops

Group5: Actual rain drops

Group6: just looked for the rain fall

Group8: The droplets of water

Group17: raindrops.− The rainfall in an allotted time (4 groups)

Group2: A minute or a 5-minute expansion of time. The spots are where the rainhit in the opening in the box.

Group9: time-lapse

Group11: 15 seconds.

Group16: (B) amount of raindrops. (A) Same.− Others (1 group)

Group7: like a Rorschach test. Like a piece of art.− Nothing (1 group)

Group1: I have no idea.

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• We then asked visitors, who said they looked at the plot, specifically if they noticedthe dots that were described in the text panel.

Noticed dotsCount

(out of 15)

Yes 13

No 2

• The 13 visitor groups who noticed the dots thought the dots represented raindrops.One of these visitors also noticed a difference in the size of the drops:

Group10: Intensity of the rain. The smaller spots are drizzle and the big onesare heavy rain.

• Some visitors were confused about how to interpret the plot (7 groups)

Group3: These (dark spots here) I have no idea [pointing to the ends of eachdark bar]

Group4: (A) Sun, rain, spit? (B) Light

Group7: But if you read this (the sign), you understand that it’s not about thegrey it’s about the white. You know, you think the grey is what you’resupposed to look at but it’s actually the white parts that tell you what’s goingon, which is interesting.

Group10: (A) My question is, “When did it rain today?”

Group13: Well, there’s the uneven printing here on the edges, but I don’t knowwhy. [NOTE: He, like other interviewees, seemed to be confused by thebarbell-like shape of the grey background pattern; he also seemed to thinkthat those uneven ends were the “white circles” mentioned in the sign.]

Group14: ...And these dark opaque places here indicate heavy rain... But the thingabout rain is that it’s not really that neat. Unlike seismic movements.

Group11: 15 seconds. IS the white part representation of time also? How doesit work?

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How interesting did people find the exhibit?

Interest RatingCount

(out of 17)

Interesting 4

Somewhat Interesting 3

Neutral 1

Somewhat Not Interesting 5

Not Interesting 4

What was interesting about the experience

• It was a way of looking at rainfall (5 groups)

Group5: I think it’s interesting to see a storm represented this way. To showhow showers stop and start.

Group6: I never thought of trying to measure rain on paper. How about having atube to measure rain also and compare them?

Group9: (B) Because I’m very intrigued, there’s data spilling out, what does itsay?

Group11: Interesting o see how we perceive rainfall.

Group17: The concept of the 15 seconds; where you see the raindrops; not muchelse to it.

• People were curious about the exhibit and what it does (3 groups)

Group1: Everything interests me.

Group2: Originally I thought it was photo-temp paper. Cause it was neat,different it caught my eye, I was curious.

Group15: To see what it is

What was not interesting about the experience

• It doesn’t do anything (5 groups)

Group4: Because I’m not sure how it works.

Group8: Unless there’s something happening. Other wise it’s boring.

Group9: (A) I think there’s a lot of potential, but it runs the risk of being a letdown, because there’s no rain.

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Group10: (A): Because there’s not a lot of rain happening. But it’s nicer tatsome of the art at MOMA we just saw!

Group12: It’s not moving.

• It’s hard to understand (4 groups)

Group3: It’s not clear, there’s not enough in the explanation to make me visualizethe lightning. Oh! A “light sprinkle” it says, well now it’s all clear, forgetthat.

Group7: I was hoping to see more, it doesn’t explain clearly (Did you read thesign?) No, I didn’t.

Group13: It’s hard to understand. Maybe it could be improved, but as it is now Idon’t really understand it.

Group16: (A) Not impressing (B) Trying to figure it out; it’s confusing.

• Not interested in the topic (1 group)

Group14: Because at first I thought it was a seismograph, so it lost my interest.[NOTE: He meant, once he found out it WASN’T a seismograph, he lostinterest. This guy was really, really into earthquakes. It took me a fewminutes to bring him back to our topic.]

What did visitors think was the point of the exhibit?

• Seeing patterns in rainfall, particularly over time (8 groups)

Group1: Something about patters in rainfall, that there is a regular pattermaybe.

Group2: I’d say, to see if there are patterns rain, or if it’s total chaos. I’d saythe latter.

Group3: Patterns of sprinkles

Group5: Variation of a storm over time, the storm’s intensity, I guess. It wouldbe nice to label how much time is represented.

Group10: (A) The way intensity and hardness of rain affect the ground.(B) That it comes in waves.

Group13: The character of a rainstorm would be the their intention--the goal isworthy, but the goal isn’t quite met I don’t think.

Group14: I guess that there’s a certain pattern to rainfall and the weather thatit perhaps depends on chronological factors, since it’s a graph.

Group17: It’s like capturing a time capsule based around weather.

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• Seeing the amount of rainfall (3 groups)

Group4: (A) How much it’s rained over the past time (B) I’m curious what thebox is about, it seems...

Group8: I assume the try to show me how much rain, actual drops, there is in 15seconds. A 2 dimensional way of seeing rain. More like a dry version of rain.

Group16: (A) The amount of rainfall of a given period/how much rainfall there ishere. (B) Visualization of rainfall.

• Comparing rainfall in different places (2 groups)

Group6: Oh no, I’m not sure. Though I think it should be about comparingdifferent places.

Group9: it’s a graphic portrayal of the rain. So what if it was fed back into a filmloop? If you show the sequence over a month maybe it would be moreinteresting.

• Something about rain (1 group)

Group7: I would assume it’s about rain, measuring rain.

• Something not necessarily about rain (1 group)

Group15: Marine life and science environment.

What did visitors become curious about at the exhibit?

• The rain (8 groups)

Group1: Always curious about things I don’t know about- rain is one, meteorology.

Group4: He: I studied acid rain, but I’d like to know more

Group8: I’m always curious about when they say “half an inch of rain.” What isthat dependant on? Doesn’t that depend on the area? They always talkabout how many inches of rain, what does that mean?

Group9: What if it actually collected the raindrops and analyzed it for acid rainand stuff?

Group11: Yeah definitely. I can imagine a whole exhibit on rain. That would begreat. Studies on patterns of rain, maybe translating it into music!

Group13: This one doesn’t make me more curious about RAIN. The actual imagesof the drops aren’t so interesting. But depth of rain might be. Maybe showthe other characteristics of rain.

Group10: 1.) I’m always curious about rain. What they don’t have thunderstormsin CA?

Group11: How do we experience rain?

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• Nothing (7 groups)

• The exhibit (6 groups)

Group1: Just curious about what it is- curiosity

Group4: (A) What it is?

Group5: Yeah, what kind of paper that is; and what day it was taken, and how itwould be used as a scientific tool

Group7: I wonder what would happen if I actually saw rain coming down. If wewere in a storm. What would happen to the paper?

Group10: (A) How does the exposure happen? Does it get inked up?

Group17: Yeah--by reading the thing it made me curious to look at it.

• The plot (4 groups)

Group5: Yeah, what kind of paper that is; and what day it was taken, and how itwould be used as a scientific tool

Group7: How do you measure the dots? Is it actually the rain coming down? (Doyou mean did the rain actually touch the paper?) Yeah. Is this a computerprintout?

Group10: 2.) What does the grey background actually represent?

Group16: (A) Something marking the time of day; what does it mean? How long?(B) It’s only like 30 minutes...

Did it remind them of anything else?

• Other representations (8 groups)

Group2: It makes me think of those things where there are the circular thingswith pictures of the running horse (kinetoscope?) yes

Group3: Yeah, a cardiogram; the earthquake seismographs

Group8: The first thing that comes to me is the earthquake chart. A variablereading. And also it looks like a woodprint. I like things that repeat itself,but each one is different if you look closely.

Group10: (A) I was at Ft. Mason art show and one artist’s final project was agraph of rainfall and it was very different looking, but the same idea.

Group11: Yeah it does seem familiar, like x-rays. A series of things, like medicalEKG’s. It also looks like a piano

Group13: Reminds me of a seismograph; I thought maybe there’d be a needlehere of some sort.

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Group14: Just the seismograph

Group16: (A) I was chemistry minor; it reminds me of a spectragrapher seismicreader--which would be more interesting. (B) Same.

• Other devices and media (4 groups)

Group4: (A) It reminds me of an old camera, back in the day.(B) Photo paper, cyanotypes.

Group5: Only playing with blueprint paper in my dad’s office as a kid. It waspaper he’d let us put things on and lay it out in the sun to make prints.

Group7: Like some kind of computer printout. Like a reading.

Group9: It makes me think of crazy projects I did in architecture class,printouts

• Other museums or museum exhibits (2 groups)

Group15: A similar thing at the Smithsonian

Group17: Yes, in the Exploratorium where you jump up and get caught (ShadowBox exhibit).

SUMMARY

• A majority (15 out of 17) of the visitor groups who stopped at the exhibit lookedclosely at the printout and tried to interpret its meaning.

• Most of these visitors (13 out of 15) noticed the dots and recognized that the dotsrepresented raindrops.

• However, close to half (7 out of 15) of the visitors who looked at the raindrop plotalso found parts of the printout hard to interpret. Some people were confused by theresidual grey bars at the beginning of the printout. Others were not sure whether tofocus on the black or the white parts of the record, or what the white and black barseven mean. These findings suggest that visitors need more help interpreting theprintout than that currently provided in text. For example, we may try to point outwhat different parts of the printout (e.g. the black bars, the white spaces, the whitedots) mean using an example plot on a graphics panel.

To help identify some other ways of improving the representations used in thisprototype, we asked visitors in this study to tell us what the exhibit prototype,particularly the plot, reminded them of. These responses (e.g., seismograph,cardiogram) may give some clues as to the types of representations visitors arefamiliar with and may, therefore, have an easier time deciphering.

• On average, visitors found the exhibit somewhat not interesting. For some visitors,the exhibit did not do enough, if anything; they wanted to see it in action. Othervisitors found the prototype and printout hard to understand. We note that the twoare somewhat related: visitors may have an easier time understanding the exhibit if

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they had a chance to see it work. But, developing a prototype that visitors can seework in real time may be particularly challenge for the Brannan Street site. It wouldneed to be robust enough for that environment; we would need to find a way topower the exhibit. And, finally, it is not clear that visitors would be willing to stop andlook closely at this or any other exhibit when it’s raining. Given all these hurdles, wemay want to consider implementing this exhibit idea at the PFA.

• Nonetheless, some visitors saw potential in the exhibit prototype. It provoked theircuriosity about the rain. The fact that a large majority of the visitors took the time tolook closely at the printout is an encouraging finding. However, some visitorsseemed more intrigued by the exhibit design itself than the outdoor phenomenon itcaptured. We should look for ways to capitalize on visitors’ interests in reading therain while downplaying the mechanisms of the contraption in future iterations.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank Fay Dearborn, Mary Kidwell, and Heather Posner forcollecting the data for this study. This material is based upon work supported by theNational Science Foundation under Grant number 0104478. Any opinions, findings, andconclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors anddo not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

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APPENDIX A

Observations

Note anything of interest. In particular, make note of the following:

1. Did they look at the printout?

2. Did they look at the box?

3. Other observations…

Questions

1. How interesting did you find that experience? Would you say that was …

Uninteresting SomewhatUninteresting

Neutral SomewhatInteresting

Interesting

1 2 3 4 5

2. What made it ____________ for you?

3. Did you get a chance to look at the paper printout?

4. Can you tell me what you saw or noticed on the printout? [Probe: what type ofpattern did you see? Was there anything different in the markings on the paper?]

a. What do you think the markings and the patterns on the paper printout showor indicate?

b. [If did not mention dots or circles] Did you see any white circles or dots onthe black portions of the printout?

i. [if YES] What do you think they indicate?

5. Did the exhibit make you curious about anything? Anything in particular about therain? Anything you would like to know more about?

6. Does this exhibit remind you of anything else you’ve experienced or seen before?

7. I know that there’s very little information about the exhibit, but can you make a guessas to what this exhibit is about? What do you think the exhibit designer is trying toshow or tell you with this exhibit?